Pond

This is a wonderful book that can be enjoyed by all age groups and levels of education. The book's introduction says "Although a pond looks peaceful, a pond is home to more creatures doing more things than you imagined. There are millions of ponds everywhere. . .there is a good chance that one is close to your home." The book does a good job of telling the reader about these creatures and their activities. Pond is written primarily for younger readers. From the beginning it stresses safety and adult involvement in the field activities. The book has excellent illustrations of the pond organisms and the equipment needed for the field activities. The pictures are very communicative and would be enjoyed by younger readers. The accompanying text may be a little beyond their understanding. Overall the book describes the pond creatures, their habitats, and their activities. Some of the habitats mentioned include the surface film, lily pads, water column, and bottom muck (benthos). Some activities covered are feeding, laying eggs, photosynthesis, and absorbing oxygen, plus others. The book also talks about changing conditions in a pond, such as when it rains, nightime critters and activities, and the pond during different seasons. The end of the book has seven pages of common pond creatures. It groups them by mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, non-insect invertebrates, plants, fungi, protists, and monera. Both this section and the well-organized index contain many pictures. The groupings may be lost on younger readers, but are very useful for higher level students. All in all I really like this book. It is well organized and an enjoyable read. As a college educator I use this book as a reference source, yet can read it and show the wonderful illustrations to my young nieces.

This is an excellent book - suitable for kids of all ages (and even adults)! I was unsure about purchasing this book, because although the reviews were good, I didn't know what the book looked like inside. Some reviews stated that it was best for older kids, not for first or second graders. I found this book to be engaging for kids of any age - even if they can't read the text independently. The information is fact-based and the pictures are realistic (as opposed to "cartoons"). I highly recommend this series! Please mark if you find my review helpful. Thank you so much!

We love in the desert. Ponds are hard to come by, but we immensely enjoyed this book. It gave us ideas to look for when we finally do come across one. We are using it in our homeschool with Exploring Nature With Children.

This book is part of our homeschool curriculum and it helps to make learning fun for my 1st grader. The illustrations are interesting and the information provided is appropriate for the expected grade level.

This book is packed with facts about ponds. My kids love looking at it and ask to read it all the time.

A fun and interesting book that was great for our homeschool pond unit l. We really enjoyed it and the pictures were interesting for the kids

This is an impressive series on ecosystems. I bought the entire set because nothing compares to it. I think the ecosystems represent Eastern North America.

This is a wonderful concept for a book. What can you find in one square (cube) in a given environment? At different layers there are different species and microcosms. This is a brilliant way to introduce ecology and science to young children.

Highly recommend all one small square books, for kids and adults alike.

Very good series.

A good lap book.